explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3089: Modern

2025-05-15T15:22:14Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: forgot signature 💀

Hate to be that guy, but wow, it’s empty [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 19:04, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

This strip reminded me of the comments in [[3063]]. Historians / historiographers typically define (early) "modernity" to begin around 1500. {{w|early modernity}} [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.126|172.71.182.126]] 19:12, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

A similar problem exists, where a recent version of the Bible is known as the New Revised Standard Version. It will be a bit awkward when it is not new, revised, or standard. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 19:38, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
: {{w|New_Revised_Standard_Version#NRSV_Updated_Edition_(NRSVue)|It's already happened.}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.167|162.158.41.167]] 06:26, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:I'm assuming it (''and'' the NRSVue) is still at least a version, though. And one, or even both, also an edition. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 08:04, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:The US Military has a similar problem: naming a system "Next-Gen [X]" but then the "Next Gen" item eventually becomes the current generation, and is eventually moving towards being obsolete and you need a successor (next-next gen?).[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.111|172.69.6.111]] 20:05, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::I guess the phone companies got it right with the 3G, 4G, 5G naming. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::: Except for that {{w|10G}} glitch. And Dilbert predicted people copyrighting "8G" years before that. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.172.75|104.23.172.75]] 20:34, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::There is a (not ''always'' consistent) "nth generation" classification system that is quite developed. The F-22 Raptor is a 5th Generation fighter, for example, with the (next-)next-gen ones being designed for the next decade being 6th. Though, yes, "Next Gen" still pops up (currently the programs I know of are ''mostly'' aimed at the solutions for #6, of course). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.129|141.101.99.129]] 22:23, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

Wasn't there an earlier strip describing a similar problem on Wikipedia edits, maybe tied to the {{w|recency bias}}? There's the idea that every more recent slice needs a new, relevant name. It also seems to work going backwards, where humanity's genus, tribe, subfamily, and family are "homo", "hominini", "homininae", and "hominidae" respectively. We seem to crave a name for every arbitrary slice that is relevant for a particular researcher. And now I'm thinking of Futurama's "New New York". I'm surprised there's not already a New New York somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.117|162.158.233.117]] 20:31, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
:Eventually, there'll be a [https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/New_New_York New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York]...
:Anyway, I actually live not far from a(nother) {{w|New York#United Kingdom|New York}}, and am also a regular visitor to (old) York. So I may not have been to New York, New York, on my travels, but I've got it covered on both sides. (I ''have'' been to both new Boston ''and'' the old one, but only been to the old Washington, both the original Richmond and its first copycat (but none of the US copycopyⁿcats), etc.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.175|162.158.216.175]] 22:01, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

::Hmmm. I've a suspicion I know who you are.
::I'm gonna say...you ain't heavy? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:16, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Ah, no. Sorry, I'm not aware of any fraternal relationship. Not just not with you, but not with anyone. ;) Nice to know there are potentially more of you out there, though.
:::I also forget where I think you're ''exactly'' from, from past information, but I do know that it's a different corner from me. Though I think you wisely left it vague, and I'm happy to be even vaguer (hence why I supplied multiple possibilities)... I think it's only rather specific (sort-of-)local knowledge that even let guess what more exacting info I ''think'' I know about you. West Riding, for starters, but I'm not going to narrow you down further. :p [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.134|172.70.86.134]] 22:38, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::I know where you live now /j [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 00:13, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:::...to within 3 million acres or so, sure... ...maybe! /jj [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.221|172.69.43.221]] 05:50, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Where do I post site suggestions?¿?¿?¿?¿ [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 04:20, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:What kind of suggestion? (And, for that matter, what kind of site?!?) Though I would probably start by clicking on the Community Portal link in the side navbar over <- there (and up a bit?). Might also be worth seeing if your potential suggestion already has something like it, rather than add a new section the repeats one (or more) past subheader(s). Also might help you find which sub-page suits your particular input. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.221|172.69.43.221]] 05:50, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

I remember as a kid asking my parents: "Why does the New Testament look so old?". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.161|162.158.245.161]] 06:42, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
: In German it makes sense, sort of - "modern" can also be a verb, meaning "to rot" :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.137|162.158.245.137]] 06:55, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:Some Gideon-types (maybe not ''actual'' Gideons, but of the same mind) came to my school one day (possibly they did it every year for each new age of students, never checked) and did a bit of basic god-bothering stuff with us. Either separate from the actual Religious Education class (which might have had more abrahamic=>judeo-christian=>christian=>protestant stuff, at times, but actually ''did'' properly cover other religions and wider belief systems) or as a once-only replacement for it (adjourning from the usual classroom, at its usual time, and instead meeting these 'missonaries' in one of the non-classroom rooms).
:...anyway... we were given handy-sized NTs. (Probably I still have mine, somewhere, because I rarely get rid of any book, of ''any'' kind, but I know other classmates probably were happily scattering them to the four winds as soon as the fancy took them.) My most immediate impression was the disappointment that it was ''just'' the NT. Whatever I thought about the ultimate veracity of either (not much, even at that age), I already knew that all the actual exciting stuff was in the OT. All the 'New' stuff basically boils down to "Be excellent to each other, dudes!" (as paraphrased by Bill and Ted) and a mixed bag of minor peril and miscarriage of justice. Whereas the 'Old' bits has various cities being destroyed, various multigenerational soap-opera plots and ''two'' completely different explanations for how everything began! They don't write 'em like that any more. Well, they do, but between The Book Of Mormon (the Joseph Smith one, not the Broadway one) and the various works of L. Ron Hubbard ("Mission: Earth" was even more escapist than "Battlefield Earth", and would have been even easier to badly make into a movie!) there's a ''lot'' of variation. ;)
:Though given how much might have been lost in translation, maybe I also ought to try reading everythihg in the original Klingon... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 08:04, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Ever notice how the words modern and modem can resemble each other when presented in the correctly chosen typeface, point size and kerning? We could have had a 56k modern if we squinted sideways. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.251|172.71.30.251]] 11:56, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Me when the New Super Mario Bros. series is over a decade old at this point lmao. Also, not willing to delete Incase I'm wrong, but what is this bit about communism and fascism?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.13|172.69.70.13]] 12:30, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:I believe it's being suggested that these particular two 'different' philosophies (not necessarily, though, if one believes they just aimed for the same basic result from different directions) were developed in reaction to the more monarchical systems of government, both given impetus from the experiences of The Great War (though not just that) to create a ''different'' form of figurehead-dominated politics that was considered, by their proponents, a "modern" solution. Over time, various 'problems' were identified (not least WW2, that revealed Fascism's nature, though Communism temporarily ended up in a better position). Much of the rest of the world ended up moving on from the vestiges of 'traditional monarchy' over this time, too, but not the same way (and, arguably, with different problems - many still quite real or possibly getting worse). There are those who may think that Fascism/Communism actually could still work (perhaps if done ''properly''!), but the original eras of these are now more retro than modern so perhaps (unless you're good at rewriting history) not under those particularly poisoned names.
:Or so I understood it. Not sure I'd say it like that, or consider it an apt addition to this article, but then I'm not a professional (political-)historian and don't have the in-depth expertise to judge its accuracy in full. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.157|172.70.86.157]] 13:33, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:: Both 'isms mentioned here have roots a fair bit older than The Great War. The bundle-of-sticks-ism is possibly the oldest form of governance there is, if you define it loosely. (Please note that that is more of a condemnation than endorsement.) --DW [[Special:Contributions/172.69.74.237|172.69.74.237]] 14:02, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Definitely (and I nearly mentioned that Germany copied Italy's model, while Japan joined in from a still Imperial perspective). Though the pressures of fighting WW1 catalysed Russia's revolution (mid-fight) and many other systems (e.g. Italy) developed both -isms to some degree or other; both the Red Flags and the Black Shirts were plentiful enough in Britain, at times, too, interbellum, arguably held off by Churchill (along with other far more dodgy things) before he even had to deal with the next coming war. Spain became the "rehersal" for the various factions. For post-Kaiser Germany, the resulting defeat plus post-Verseilles demands fuelled drives for ''both'' forms of 'socialism' (the 'national' type ending up in total control, now on an Italy+ track such that most people often forget poor old Benito's part in inspiring it), setting up circumstances for the next bout. Not sure that such things could have been avoided, without WW1, but it definitely forced matters and shaped the 'modern' world differently from how it might have done if the First Great War had only boiled over later. (With different personalities, a few of the same original errors, probably a smattering of more advanced mil-tech or lost opportunities to have learnt from earlier (less effective) wide-area weaponry/long-range weaponry against both enemy and civilian targets - a rich vein for alternate history!)
:::But I say this only to help with 5he "what is this about...?", which I took to mean not quite knowing how (in their time) they were considered modern answers to age-old questions, only to become different (and eventually dated) problems on the way to today's (still problematic) future. The old "those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it" thing applies in spades, here... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.169|172.69.224.169]] 15:03, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

: I agree that seems out of place and not pertinent to the comic itself. It is true that those and other 'isms arose because of societal upheavals associated with various [adj]modern things, but that's trivially true of... almost everything. --DW [[Special:Contributions/172.69.74.237|172.69.74.237]] 14:02, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

== Modern just means "current" ==

I think the text makes it seem like the fact that the name "modern" as a technical term and the normal use of the word are different meanings of the same word is just a coincidence, as if the term "modern" was extended to refer to contemporary events from its use to describe contemporary philosophy and the like. Instead, "the fault", so to say, lies with those who used the word "modern" to describe the philosophy and the like in the first place. From what I can tell, "modern" does originally mean "current" or something close to it. To use it as a descriptor for things that will not stay "modern" is the ultimate cause.

While this can be read into the current article, I think the overall feeling of the article on that issue goes in the wrong direction. [[User:Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything|Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything]] ([[User talk:Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything|talk]]) 15:22, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3089: Modern

2025-05-15T15:21:36Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: /* Modern just means "current" */ new section

1735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police

2024-10-15T21:16:34Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: This sentence is incorrect.

{{comic
| number = 1735
| date = September 19, 2016
| title = Fashion Police and Grammar Police
| image = fashion_police_and_grammar_police.png
| titletext = * Mad about jorts
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, two groups of angry protesters are presented and labeled. They are ''most likely'' drawn side by side not because they're protesting in the same place, but to compare their similarities.

The left group represents the '''Fashion Police''' with [[Cueball]] holding a sign implying that {{w|Crocs}} are prohibited by showing Crocs shoe/sandal in a circle with a strike through it. Crocs are {{w|Clog|clogs}} made of foam. Crocs (and their imitators) have become fairly popular due to their low price, comfort, and ease of use, but are broadly considered {{w|Crocs#Fashion| unfashionable to wear in public}}. It is not the first time [[Randall]] mocks a special type of shoes, as previously, in [[1065: Shoes]], Randall was after shoes that ''has those creepy individual toes'' like {{w|Vibram FiveFingers}}. They will also never be a hit with the Fashion Police.{{Citation needed}}

The right group represents the '''Grammar Police''' with another Cueball holding a sign with the three homophones {{wiktionary|their|Their}} (belonging to them), {{wiktionary|they're|They're}} ("they are", contracted), and {{wiktionary|there|There}} (a location). These words are frequently confused for one another, due to their common usage and identical pronunciation, with one spelling then being used in a context meant for a different one and potentially provoking the Grammar Police to quickly intervene. See the [https://twitter.com/_grammar_ Grammar Police on Twitter] and {{w|Grammar Police|Linguistic prescription}}.

The two groups look similar, standing in similar poses, with Cueball holding a sign and [[Megan]] in the front line in both. Each group also has one member brandishing a sword, indicating the exaggerated level of intensity they feel about their respective causes.

Both types of people will correct, criticize, denigrate or mock those who fail to conform to their criteria for what is "correct". Fashion police oppose people wearing clothing that's mismatched, out of style/{{w|fashion}}, or simply "ugly" to them. Grammar police are "sticklers" for {{w|grammar}} rules and have an immediate negative reaction when someone uses non-standard grammar in a sentence. These two groups are generally seen as socially separate, and their goals appear very distinct, but the comic explains how the two groups are actually very similar. This is demonstrated by listing eight characteristics, plus one in the title text, common to both groups. See explanation in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]].

In the caption below the comic Randall notes that he had just realized that these are literally the same people because they both exhibit the listed traits.

It seems like a safe assumption that there are more grammar pedants (see title text of [[1652: Conditionals]]) than fashion police people who read xkcd, and it also would seem likely that many xkcd readers would dislike the Fashion Police. This comic may, therefore, be intended to point out to grammar pedants that their behavior is functionally similar to that of other people who they dislike. Ponytail also represented the grammar police in [[1576: I Could Care Less]], where Megan puts her in place after she polices her sentence; this thus shows what Randall thinks about such police work and supports the above assumption. In 1576: I Could Care Less, "literally" was also used in the title text.

Randall is, with regards to language, definitely one of those that can belong in this group: ''To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well.''

The title is a ninth point to add to the list, with the asterisk in front representing one more bullet. See the last entry in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]] for more.

==Table of individual items==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Explanation of individual items in the list
!list item
!Explanation
|-
|Judgemental and Smug || Both groups tend to feel very comfortable in their own mastery of their particular field, and are frequently condescending to those who either lack their expertise, or are uninterested in meeting their standards.
|-
|Angry about something deeply arbitrary || Both grammar and fashion are, essentially, made-up human constructs.
|-
| Strong opinions backed by style guides || Grammar has ''{{w|The Elements of Style}}'', fashion has fashion magazines.
|-
| Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted is your responsibility || Whether or not you're interested in fashion or 'proper' grammar, how you dress and speak will impact how others perceive you, and often how they treat you. Whether this is fair or not, it is a reality, and each person is responsible for how they present themselves.
|-
| Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own || As above, our dress and speech will be taken by others as sending messages about ourselves. Trying to ignore the rules of either grammar or fashion is, itself, a message, as it presents to the world that we refuse to live by this set of rules. Whether or not we're trying to convey that message, it is what will come across.
|-
|To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well || People who appear to not understand the rules of either grammar or fashion will often be seen as ignorant or low-class. On the other hand, deliberately ignoring rules of either when its clear that you've mastered them comes across as casual, since it's clear that you're choosing to play with the rules, rather than simply not knowing them.
|-
|Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class || This is probably the most impactful observation. Rules around fashion and grammar, being arbitrary, are generally set by the most powerful classes in any society, which often run along racial lines as well. As a result, the "proper" way to dress or speak generally remains associated with those classes. This association can be pragmatic, such as "fashionable" clothing being more expensive and hard for poor people to acquire, or it may simply be cultural, as 'proper' grammar is whatever's spoken in wealthy neighborhoods and schools, while language variants associated with poor people and minority groups is bluntly denounced as 'wrong', even if it has a fully consistent internal grammar. Similarly, fashions that are associated with poor and non-white social groups are broadly considered to be inappropriate, even if the reasons are arbitrary. As a result, such things become signifiers by which one can present oneself as being part of a social class. In America, it would be socially unacceptable to reject a job applicant because they grew up poor, and illegal to do so because of their race. However, rejecting an applicant for using 'improper' grammar, or for not wearing the right clothing or hairstyle, is standard practice. Randall identifies this fact as "uncomfortably transparent".

To be clear, it doesn't make one racist to dislike another's, or a group's, fashion choices or grammatical habits/rules.
|-
| Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you|| As with any arbitrary set of rules, those that we're in agreement and comfortable with are easy to promote, and we may enjoy taking part in the condemnation of others. But that suddenly changes when we find ourselves on the outside, condemned for our own use of language or how we dress. At that point, the flaws of such groups become much harder to ignore.
|-
| Mad about jorts (Title text) || "{{w|Shorts#Jorts|Jorts}}" is a {{w|portmanteau}} for a pair of jeans that are made into shorts.

The fashion police would be mad about jorts for being unfashionable.

The grammar police would be mad about the word 'jorts' being an inappropriate portmanteau of jeans and shorts, and also for the fact that the sentence could be misinterpreted as if someone likes jorts, as in being "mad about" something in a positive way.

{{w|Sentence_clause_structure#Incomplete_sentence|Also a fragment}}, with no subject (properly it would be "I am mad about jorts" or "They are mad about jorts"). Randall has [[:Category:Portmanteau|often used]] portmanteaus as part of his jokes.

It is also possible that the Grammar police are indeed "mad about Jorts" in the positive sense, i.e Grammar Police love Jorts.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Beneath two headings to the left and right are shown two aggressive-looking groups of people with only the four people in the front clearly shown for each group. Behind them five other people can be seen, but they are drawn in grey and are only partially shown behind the first four, and legs from all five in each group can be seen along with some of their heads.]
:Left: Fashion Police
[From left to right, Hairy is holding one fist up to the left, Megan has her arms while crossed facing forward, a Cueball is holding a pole sign above his head with both hands facing a little to the left, displaying a single croc with a line through it and a circle around it, and another Cueball is holding a large stick to the right at head level. The person behind the rightmost Cueball has one fist raised, though not as high as Hairy.]
:Right: Grammar Police
[From left to right, Megan is holding both fists above her head to the left, a Cueball is holding a sign much like the Cueball in the Fashion Police, although he is facing to the right and his sign has "Their", "They're", and "There" written on top of each other, Ponytail has one fist raised, facing left, and a bald man wearing glasses is holding a sword in his left hand facing right while his right palm is raised face up.]

:[Below the two groups are eight points with bullets:]
:*Judgemental and smug
:*Angry about something deeply arbitrary
:*Strong opinions backed by style guides
:*Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted ''is'' your responsibility
:*Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own
:*To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well
:*Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class
:*Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I just realized these are literally the same people

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]
[[Category:Pedantic]]

Talk:1331: Frequency

2024-10-07T17:13:51Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: /* Sorting table by frequency doesn’t sort by frequency */ new section

I have began the transcript. Should a table be embedded with all the statements?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.11|108.162.250.11]] 07:33, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
:That would be apt. Dammit Randall, why couldn't you have made the comic one image so it'd be easy to put up here? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:36, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
:::If I've calculated it correctly (from the core numbers of prime factors extracted from the set of millisecond cycles extracted below by the script), a ''single'' image that contained each and every cycle (exactly as they are individually, without fudging any of them to avoid awkward factors) before repeating from the start again would have a total duration of 8.74E+056ms. (That's around 2.77E+046 ''years''!) I haven't worked out how many frames that would require (at approx 300kp, each, before compression)although I would hazard a guess that most (if not all of them) would probably sustain at a duration of no more than a single figure of milliseconds.
:::You might be able to make a more efficient and vastly smaller representation with the .swf format, but I've not used that for a while so might have forgotten some limitations that would apply in that event.
:::(Realistically, recreating the array of individual images is the best solution you have. Another case where Randall goes outside the 'traditional' single, simple image format, and messes with everyone's automated XKCD-strip-grabbing scripts, no doubt. At least this time round. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 02:02, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
::I have created a table but someone else has already updated the transcript in a different style; here is my attempt
<pre><table>
<tr>
<th>Heartbeat</th>
<th>One Birth</th>
<th>One Death</th>
<th>Someone Edits Wikipedia</th>
<th>Someone Buys a Vibrator</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>China Builds a Car</td>
<td>Japan Builds a Car</td>
<td>Germany Builds a Car</td>
<td>The US Builds a Car</td>
<td>Someone Else Builds a Car</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A European Union President Has Their First Kiss</td>
<td>A US Fire Department Puts Out a Fire</td>
<td>Someone Hits a Hole-In-One</td>
<td>My Turn Signal Blinks</td>
<td>The Turn Signal of the Car in Front of Me Blinks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Earthquake (Magnitude 1)</td>
<td>Earthquake (Magnitude 2)</td>
<td>Earthquake (Magnitude 3)</td>
<td>Earthquake (Magnitude 4)</td>
<td>Member of the UK Parliament Flushes a Toilet</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>An Airline Flight Takes Off</td>
<td>Someone Buys To Kill A Mockingbird</td>
<td>Someone's Pet Cat Kills a Mockingbird</td>
<td>Someone in Pheonix Buys New Shoes</td>
<td>Someone in Pheonix Puts on a Condom</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Someone Locks Their Keys in Their Car</td>
<td>A Sagittarius Named Amelia Drinks a Soda</td>
<td>A Dog Bites Someone in the US</td>
<td>Someone Steals a Bicycle</td>
<td>A Bald Eagle Catches a Fish</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>50,000 Plastic Bottles are Produced</td>
<td>50,000 Plastic Bottles are Recycled</td>
<td>A Bright Meteor is Visible Somewhere</td>
<td>Old Faithful Erupts</td>
<td>A fishing Boat Catches a Shark</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Someone in the US is Diagnosed With Cancer</td>
<td>Someone in the US Dies from Cancer</td>
<td>Someone Adopts a Dog from a Shelter</td>
<td>Someone Adopts a Cat from a Shelter</td>
<td>Someone gets Married</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Someone Registers a Domain</td>
<td>Someone in the US Buys a House</td>
<td>Someone in the US gets a Tattoo</td>
<td>The Star PSR J1748-2446AD Rotates 1,000 Times</td>
<td>Someone Lies About their Age to Sign up for Facebook</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Someone Breaks an iPhone Screen</td>
<td>A Little League Player Strikes Out</td>
<td>Someone has Sex in North Dakota</td>
<td>Justin Bieber Gains a Follower on Twitter</td>
<td>Someone in Denver Orders a Pizza</td>
</tr>
</table>
</pre> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.11|108.162.250.11]] 10:06, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

:::Thanks, I have replaced the transcript with this one as it is closer to the actual comic format. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.152|173.245.53.152]] 10:24, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

I would like to point out a few things: the title text refers to an experiment that shows a piece of tar, if I remember correctly, which looks like a solid material, dripping very very slowly. It takes a year or more for a drop to fall, and there should be a live stream of it somewhere, I think.

The second is the turning signal being out of sync with the other car. Randall made a comic about that one already. It's a recurring thing.[[User:Dulcis|Dulcis]] ([[User talk:Dulcis|talk]]) 07:57, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
:A year? It took 12 years for the last drop to fall... {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.114}}

: About turning signals, see [[165|XKCD #165]]--[[User:Koundelitchnico|KoundelitchNico]] ([[User talk:Koundelitchnico|talk]]) 09:32, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

:: Thanks, I thought of that one too. I have added this in the explanations column of the table I created, feel free to add more / edit if you feel the need to do so. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.152|173.245.53.152]] 10:24, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

I found a simple tool that calculates the duration of GIF files on github: https://raw.github.com/alimony/gifduration/master/gifduration.py
Slightly edited, this is the output:
<pre>
amelia.gif: 7790 ms (7.79 seconds)
bieber.gif: 4730 ms (4.73 seconds)
bike.gif: 24930 ms (24.93 seconds)
birth.gif: 240 ms (0.24 seconds)
book_mockingbird.gif: 42050 ms (42.05 seconds)
bottles.gif: 1270 ms (1.27 seconds)
car_china.gif: 1890 ms (1.89 seconds)
car_elsewhere.gif: 1030 ms (1.03 seconds)
car_germany.gif: 5800 ms (5.80 seconds)
car_japan.gif: 4010 ms (4.01 seconds)
car_us.gif: 6950 ms (6.95 seconds)
cat.gif: 21300 ms (21.30 seconds)
cat_mockingbird.gif: 1820 ms (1.82 seconds)
death.gif: 560 ms (0.56 seconds)
denverpizza.gif: 1270 ms (1.27 seconds)
dogbite.gif: 7010 ms (7.01 seconds)
dog.gif: 15600 ms (15.60 seconds)
domain.gif: 640 ms (0.64 seconds)
eagle.gif: 2690 ms (2.69 seconds)
earthquake1.gif: 2430 ms (2.43 seconds)
earthquake2.gif: 24260 ms (24.26 seconds)
earthquake3.gif: 242600 ms (242.60 seconds)
earthquake4.gif: 2426000 ms (2426.00 seconds)
facebook.gif: 4320 ms (4.32 seconds)
fire_dept.gif: 23000 ms (23.00 seconds)
flight.gif: 930 ms (0.93 seconds)
heartbeat.gif: 860 ms (0.86 seconds)
holeinone.gif: 180000 ms (180.00 seconds)
house.gif: 6220 ms (6.22 seconds)
iphone.gif: 930 ms (0.93 seconds)
keys.gif: 2430 ms (2.43 seconds)
kiss.gif: 5530 ms (5.53 seconds)
littleleague.gif: 1230 ms (1.23 seconds)
meteor.gif: 1150 ms (1.15 seconds)
ndsex.gif: 1380 ms (1.38 seconds)
oldfaithful.gif: 5640000 ms (5640.00 seconds)
parliament_toilet.gif: 10060 ms (10.06 seconds)
phoenix.gif: 2050 ms (2.05 seconds)
phoenixshoes.gif: 1080 ms (1.08 seconds)
pulsar.gif: 1400 ms (1.40 seconds)
recycled.gif: 4640 ms (4.64 seconds)
shark.gif: 830 ms (0.83 seconds)
tattoo.gif: 2060 ms (2.06 seconds)
turnsignal1.gif: 940 ms (0.94 seconds)
turnsignal2.gif: 900 ms (0.90 seconds)
us_cancer_death.gif: 54340 ms (54.34 seconds)
us_cancer.gif: 18990 ms (18.99 seconds)
vibrator.gif: 2990 ms (2.99 seconds)
wedding.gif: 750 ms (0.75 seconds)
wikipedia.gif: 670 ms (0.67 seconds)
</pre>
This could be useful in creating some kind of table in the Explanation.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.109|108.162.231.109]] 09:25, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

:Thanks, I'm working on an explanation right now. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.152|173.245.53.152]] 09:57, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
::OK, I'll leave it at this - the conversions to events per minute don't make sense for all of the tiles and some of them can use more explanation but I'll leave that for someone else to pick up - need to go back to work :-) --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.152|173.245.53.152]] 10:12, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

:::The edits on Wikipedia doesn't seem very accurate: 0.67s are 3.9M edits per month, while [http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesDatabaseEdits.htm] has only edit counts around 3M for the last available months for English Wikipedia. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.160|108.162.254.160]] 11:17, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

::Is that why the explaination is currently locked? I was going to add a few things to the comment column, but I'm aparently not allowed to at the moment. [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 16:11, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Suggestion: grid like coordinates to refer to other flashing text? (think E4, B6, D5, ...) sirKitKat [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.173|173.245.53.173]] 11:19, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Someone from the UK parliment flushed the toilet while someone in Phoenix used a condom, while a bald eagle caught a fish... (I know, it's just the frequency, not the exact time it is shown to occur) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.131|141.101.98.131]] 11:28, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Shouldn't the North Dakota one have been "two people"? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 11:57, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

He should have added a PNG saying "your screen's refresh rate"... --[[User:Kronf|Kronf]] ([[User talk:Kronf|talk]]) 12:06, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

;Technically possible

Technically you can create an animated GIF that will repeat every 10 years. The standard says that maximum interval between frames is 65535*0.01 seconds, so to create a 10-year video you'll need 31557600*10/655.35=481538 frames. Since GIF registers only changes pixels for each frame, most of these frames will be empty (I'm not sure about the size, but around 20 bytes), so the whole file would be around 9.6 megabytes. Please include this in the explanation (possibly correcting numbers). --[[User:Zverik|Zverik]] ([[User talk:Zverik|talk]]) 13:18, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
: @Zverik; Any reason you not just adding that to the explanation yourself? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 20:31, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Update: Randall used some Adobe software to create highly redundant animated GIFs (with a color profile written to every frame). The thing is, frames are not equal, they gradually change brightness, so each frame is written anew and takes 3670 bytes (measured with oldfaithful.gif). So the estimate for 10-year animated GIF with that software would be 1.77 gigabytes (1.65 GiB). That would be too much indeed. --[[User:Zverik|Zverik]] ([[User talk:Zverik|talk]]) 13:51, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

: Still, there are only 166 shades of gray between black and the default gray. So all it would take is an additional 166 bigger (in terms of number of bytes) frames. That he uses inferior software is no excuse. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.181|108.162.254.181]] 14:58, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Is it possible that the comment ''Amelia is the most common US name'' [http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1331:_Frequency&diff=next&oldid=60214] is made in good faith? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 16:05, 17 February 2014 (UTC). It also said that Sagittarius is the most common star sign, which is false, so I deleted the comment. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 16:16, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

: In fact it appears the most common star sign in the US is going to be Leo or Virgo: http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/7/1512.long . Being part way through the cycle, Sagitarius is probably about 1/12 of the population. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.10|141.101.98.10]] 09:11, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Anybody understand why there are so many references to Phoenix ? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 20:31, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
:Because 2 references are not really "many". [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 20:40, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
:high birthrate perhaps? people down there seem to have large families (in my experience), at least that may be what he is saying about the condoms.[[User:Ercannon|Ercannon]] ([[User talk:Ercannon|talk]]) 22:24, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
:I'll hazard a guess here by saying that multiple references to a common item using unrelated topics is a comedic element in itself! In addition, referring to the comment immediately below, unnecessary or impossible precision is also an element of comedy. [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 23:51, 17 February 2014 (UTC)ExternalMonolog
;Excess precision
To 108.162.245.114 who said that all members of the UK parliament flush a toilet 3,136,938 times per year, please read {{w|False precision}}. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 22:10, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

This should work for the heading, but it's a complete mess and messes up the entire layout. Could someone have a look at this monstrosity:
<pre>
<table class cellspacing="5"
style="background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; color: black; font-size: 88%; line-height: 1.5em;
margin: 0.5em 0 0.5em 1em; padding: 0.2em; text-align: center; width:98%; {{{bodystyle|}}}"><tr><td><ul style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;" class="no-link-underline">{{#ifexist:{{#expr:1331 - 1}}|<li style="background-color: #6E7B91;
border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;
display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;
margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;">[[{{#expr:1331 - 1}}|< Prev]]</li>|<li style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 12px;">                </li>}}<li style="background-color: #6E7B91;
border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;
display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;
margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"
class="plainlinks">[http://www.xkcd.com/1331/ Comic #1331 (February 17, 2014)]</li>{{#ifexist:{{#expr:1331 + 1}}|<li style="background-color: #6E7B91;
border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;
display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;
margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;">[[{{#expr:1331 + 1}}|Next >]]</li>|<li style="display: inline; font-size: 16px; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 12px;">                </li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="font-size: 20px; padding-bottom:10px">Frequency</td></tr>}}<tr><td><center><table><tr>
<td>[[File:heartbeat.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:birth.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:death.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:wikipedia.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:vibrator.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:car china.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car japan.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car germany.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car us.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:car elsewhere.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:kiss.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:fire dept.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:holeinone.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:turnsignal1.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:turnsignal2.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:earthquake1.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:earthquake2.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:earthquake3.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:earthquake4.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:parliament toilet.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:flight.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:book mockingbird.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:cat mockingbird.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:phoenixshoes.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:phoenix.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:keys.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:amelia.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:dogbite.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:bike.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:eagle.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:bottles.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:recycled.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:meteor.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:oldfaithful.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:shark.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:us cancer.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:us cancer death.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:dog.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:cat.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:wedding.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:domain.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:house.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:tattoo.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:pulsar.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:facebook.gif ]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[ File:iphone.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:littleleague.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:ndsex.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:bieber.gif ]]</td>
<td>[[ File:denverpizza.gif ]]</td>
</tr></table> Title text: This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.</td></tr></table></center>
</pre> [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.184|173.245.53.184]] 22:31, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
:I'm currently adding the ability to put replace the image field with an optional custom field. Will keep you posted. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:40, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
::See [[Template:comic]], in particular the last parameter and the last bullet point in the notes section. Added just for you. This'll be pretty useful for other comics that we've made in the past as well. Thanks for making me get off my butt and do something useful with my admin powers. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:13, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
:::Cool. Next up: click and drag :D [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.121|108.162.231.121]] 12:24, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
::::The awesome thing is, it might be possible for us to port Randall's code/enable javascript and duplicate that comic exactly as it appears on the main xkcd site. The custom field isn't limited to just images, so we can literally represent anything that can be rendered by mediawiki now. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:28, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
−
::I don't understand this problem. The HTML-Code is just from the main page, it doesn't explain your problem. I did add all the GIF images yesterday, and for entering all that links in an easy way I changed this table layout to an easy WIKI-Table. In my opinion all the sortable tags should be removed, this is not increasing the depth at this explain. But this is still an open task here, yesterday I just did focus on all the missing GIFs here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:53, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Am i alone in thinking that there are many "references to other comics" which are not references at all, but merely about the same subject? "One birth" is supposedly a reference to 746, with presumably the only reason that they both handle the subject of concieving children. The only "correct" reference in my opinion is the reference to 165 (turn signals). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.215|141.101.80.215]] 15:24, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

Just returning to the "10 years = too large a GIF" thing, without trying to slot into the huge mess it became above ... the thing we should be looking at here is not overall file size, but *rate*. The overall size was somewhere beyond 10mb? OK, but, so what - we've got 10 years to download it, and GIF is an inherently streaming format (each frame displays as it loads, if there hasn't been enough time / bandwidth to pre-buffer it). 1 megabyte per year is 2871 bytes per average day, 120 per hour, 1.99 per minute... and a grand total of 0.266 BITS per second (ie 3.76 seconds per bit). A tortoise could transmit that GIF using morse code and it wouldn't be badly delayed. And the amount of storage represented by 10mb by the time it's finished sending won't even be worth calculating in terms of cost or percentage of available space, when a 16gb flashdrive already costs under £10 retail.

Also, these GIFs seem to be pretty inefficiently compressed; I'm following another webcomic at the moment where most of the frames are high-resolution full-colour aniGIFs, and each one tends to clock in around 40 to 100kb unless there's a lot of action in it... but the "magnitude 1 earthquake" one here is 123kb. Even so, the mag 4 quake GIF - 1000x longer - is but 280kb, so the size obviously doesn't scale linearly with length. The difference is most likely in levels of grey shown during the fade, and as even the 42-second "to kill a mockingbird" one is noticeably slower fading than the more frequent ones around it (not quite enough, at 30fps and maybe 3-4 seconds of fading, to cover the whole 166 shades between lightest and darkest text - but the mag 4 one would easily manage it even at a lower framerate, as it probably takes a good 30 seconds if not a couple minutes). It's possible that 300kb is all it takes for the actual image payload even of a full-fade panel with a lot of high frequency, non repeating patterned text, and all the rest is just padding / blank / repeat overheads.

Which means even our 0.27-bit-per-second tortoise would get all THAT sent in a little over three months, not much more time than would be needed to show the likely fadeout in realtime if it was the first thing that actually appeared. If it was sent by any other realistic communication method, even as POST data from the client end of a 1200/75 baud modem, it'd have entirely ample time to buffer (the first frame would likely appear within 1 to 5 minutes), and your more realistic concern would be not only stopping your computer from rebooting before the GIF had time to run through a cycle, but keeping it running continuously for that length of time (and, if needed, downloading the file really slowly throughout) in any case. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.150|141.101.98.150]] 19:08, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Anyone notice how the explanations for the car-related frequencies are nonsensical? They're so nonsensical that I can't tell how to fix them without actually knowing the subject. Please fix.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.206|108.162.219.206]] 05:20, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm filling in the remaining fields the best I can. I did the last one; Denver pizza. Math is not my strong point. It's probably a joke statistic, but someone may want to double-check my math. I didn't see any figures for Denver's pizza consumption, but I figured it was one of those things where it just maybe worked out to match the Denver population. {{unsigned|4jonah}}

All fields are now filled out to the best of my ability. I have not edited ones already completed, but finished empty ones as accurately as possible. {{unsigned|4jonah}}

"About half of all cyclists have their bikes stolen, oftentimes more than once, but riders have a 90% chance of theft, all according to this report." It's a very confusing sentence and doesn't match the data in the linked report. About half of all people who ''ever'' cycle get their bikes stolen at some point. People who cycle ''every day'' are 90% more likely to have their bike stolen than people who cycle infrequently. Not 90% chance of theft. I will update this if nobody objects. [[User:AmbroseChapel|AmbroseChapel]] ([[User talk:AmbroseChapel|talk]]) 23:47, 27 August 2017 (UTC)

Not sure if it's the sort of interesting fact that should be added or not, but under the "Sagittarius named Amelia" section, that link to the Baby Name Wizard shows the peak popularity for the name "Amelia" was in 2012. The character of Amelia Pond was on Doctor Who from 2010 to mid-2012, and that was also the height of the immense popularity in America of Matt Smith playing the title role. Might be the source of the popularity of that name. Also, does the previous analysis take into account the fact that Sagittarius named Amelia wouldn't start drinking soda until they are at least a few years old? Would taking out all the ones under the age of five or six let us bring back in SNA in the rest of the world, given that soda is much more popular in America than elsewhere? [[User:CritterKeeper|CritterKeeper]] ([[User talk:CritterKeeper|talk]]) 19:00, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Anyone want to help calculate the odds of all of these flashing at the same time? [[User:IJustWantToEditStuff|IJustWantToEditStuff]] ([[User talk:IJustWantToEditStuff|talk]]) 01:01, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
:If I have all the timings entered correctly (because I just did it on a calculator when I should have gone with a script on the source data) it's... Approximately 2.77x1046 years.
:That's because I have factorised the ms durations of each gif (as given above, give or take a typo) and the lowest common multiple is built up as being (2⁷ * 3⁵ * 5⁴ * 7 * 11 * 13 * 19 * 23 * 29² * 31 * 41 * 43 * 47 * 67 * 71 * 79 * 83 * 103 * 127 * 139 * 211 * 269 * 277 * 311 * 401 * 503 * 701 * 1213) milliseconds... But feel free to validate my assumptions. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.4|172.70.86.4]] 03:50, 6 September 2022 (UTC)

== Sorting table by frequency doesn’t sort by frequency ==

When I click the heading to sort by it it goes .33, .25, .011, .025, 1.1, 1.4, which doesn’t seem right…

605: Extrapolating

2023-11-30T08:38:15Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: No it isn't

{{comic
| number = 605
| date = July 3, 2009
| title = Extrapolating
| image = extrapolating.png
| titletext = By the third trimester, there will be hundreds of babies inside you.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke about the incorrect application of {{w|linear extrapolation}}. By connecting two points without any context, we can come up with incredibly funny and absurd results. Here, connecting a bride's number of spouses yesterday (zero) and today—her wedding day—(one) can result in a linear extrapolation to hundreds of spouses a year. Cueball presents the accumulation of husbands as though it were a phenomenon beyond the bride's ability to control. Using similar points for pregnancy (yesterday: no babies, today: one), we can get 200+ children inside a single person by the seventh month of pregnancy.

This is another comic in the infrequent [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series.

This particular hobby has later been explored in [[1007: Sustainable]], [[1204: Detail]] and [[1281: Minifigs]].

==Transcript==
:My Hobby: Extrapolating

:[There is a graph. Time runs along the horizontal axis; Number of Husbands on the vertical graph. Yesterday and today are labeled in time, 0 and 1 in number of husbands. Points are plotted with 0 at yesterday, 1 at today. A straight line is fitted through them.]
:[Cueball is holding a pointer to the graph, and looking at Megan wearing a bridal train and veil.]
:Cueball: As you can see, by late next month you'll have over four dozen husbands.
:Cueball: Better get a bulk rate on wedding cake.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with babies]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Wedding]]
[[Category:Extrapolation]]

2470: Next Slide Please

2021-06-01T07:23:40Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: I think the transcript is finished? Should the tag be removed?

{{comic
| number = 2470
| date = June 1, 2021
| title = Next Slide Please
| image = next_slide_please.png
| titletext = "I have nothing to offer but blood--next slide, please--toil--next slide, please--tears, and--next slide, please--sweat."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SLIDESHOW WITH -- NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE -- FAMOUS QUOTES ON IT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic presumes that many famous quotes are actually excerpts from slideshow presentations, and the text they were reading was split across multiple slides. The person making the speech wasn't operating the slide projector, so they had to ask the operator to go to the next slide. The common way to ask this is to say "next slide, please", but these have been edited out of the historical transcripts. The comic imagines the places where the slide breaks might have been, and inserts that request.

Most of these quotes are drawn from speeches, which could conceivably have been accompanied by slides or other stage directions ("pause for laughter"), but the list grows more ridiculous as it continues by including works of literature, where the reader is the one who turns pages as necessary, and then speeches from periods of history which predated slide projectors.

{| class="wikitable"
!Quote
!Attribution
!Context
|-
| "Give me liberty or give me—Next slide, please—death!"
| Patrick Henry, at the Second Virginia convention on March 23, 1775, as part of the revolutionary war against {{w|Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain}}.
|
|-
| "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down—Next slide, please—this wall."
| {{w|Ronald Reagan}}, {{w|Berlin Wall Speech}} (1987).
|
|-
| "It was the best of times—Next slide, please—It was the worst of times."
| A Tale of Two Cities.
|
|-
| "We have nothing to fear but—Next slide, please—fear itself."
| Inauguration of {{w|Franklin D. Roosevelt}} in 1933.
|
|-
| "To be or—Next slide, please—not to be, that is the question."
| From the play ''Hamlet'' by {{w|William Shakespeare}}, Act III, Scene i.
|
|-
| "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art—Next slide, please—more lovely and—Next slide, please—more temperate."
| Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.
| A sonnet is a type of love poem, and it requires rhyming and pacing. The inclusion of "Next slide, please" would break said poetic flow.
|-
| "We shall fightvNext slide, please—on the beaches, we shall fight on—Next slide, please—the landing grounds..."
| {{w|Winston Churchill}}, World War II speech.
|
|-
| "Read my lips—Next slide, please—no new taxes."
| {{w|George H. W. Bush}}, spoken at 1988 Republican National Convention
|
|-
| "That's one small step for man—Next slide, please—one giant leap for mankind."
| {{w|Neil Armstrong}}, when he stepped off the {{w|Apollo 11}} lunar module and onto the surface of the Moon.
|
|-
| "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears! Next slide, please. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
| From the play ''{{w|Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar}}'' by Shakespeare, Act III, Scene ii.
| Takes place after Julius Caesar suffered a few stab wounds.
|-
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of—Next slide, please—a good fortune, must be in want of—Next slide, please—a wife."
| Intro to ''{{w|Pride and Prejudice}}'', written by {{w|Jane Austen}}.
|
|-
| "Veni, vidi—Velim, pictura proxima—vici."
| {{w|Julius Caesar}}, in a letter after defeating Pharnaces II (47 BC). Literally, "I came, I saw—Please, next picture—I conquered." - it seems to fit nicely into the alliteration.
| Caesar used this phrase to refer to a swift, conclusive victory at the Battle of Zela.
|-
| "I have nothing to offer but blood--next slide, please--toil--next slide, please--tears, and--next slide, please--sweat." (title text)
| Winston Churchill
| From 1940, shortly after he became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom when asking for a vote of confidence in the new all-party (unity) cabinet.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
: [Text at the center:]
: ''Did you know?''
: ''Transcripts of famous quotes often''
: ''leave out the slideshow instructions.''
: ''Here’s the line actually sounded:''
: [Below showing a list of quotations, with Ronald Reagan standing next to a slide showing the Berlin Wall to the right of the text.]
: "Give me liberty or give me—Next slide, please—death!"
: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down—Next slide, please—this wall."
: "It was the best of times—Next slide, please—It was the worst of times."
: "We have nothing to fear but—Next slide, please—fear itself."
: "To be or—Next slide, please—not to be, that is the question."
: "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art—Next slide, please—more lovely and—Next slide, please—more temperate."
: [Below showing another list of quotations, with Winston Churchill standing next to a slide showing a beach to the left of the text.]
: "We shall fight—Next slide, please—on the beaches, we shall fight on—Next slide, please—the landing grounds..."
: "Read my lips—Next slide, please—no new taxes."
: "That's one small step for man—Next slide, please—one giant leap for mankind."
: "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears! Next slide, please. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of—Next slide, please—a good fortune, must be in want of—Next slide, please—a wife."
: "Veni, vidi—Velim, pictura proxima—vici."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ronald Reagan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Winston Churchill]]

1604: Snakes

2020-11-29T14:12:06Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: Calculator is no longer available.

{{comic
| number = 1604
| date = November 16, 2015
| title = Snakes
| image = snakes.png
| titletext = The last band of color indicates the snake's tolerance for being held before biting.
}}

==Explanation==
In the comic, [[Megan]] confuses a popular method of identification of the dangerous North American {{w|coral snake}} by its red, yellow, and black stripes with the {{w|Electronic color code|color-coding system}} used to indicate the resistance of electrical resistors.

The coral snake has red bands adjacent to its yellow bands. However, coral snakes are {{w|mimicry|mimicked}} by nonvenomous species with similar coloring, such as the {{w|milk snake}}, whose red bands are not adjacent to its yellow bands. This has led to a variety of rhyming {{w|mnemonic}}s, such as “Red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, friend of Jack.” Because Megan is describing a red band being adjacent to a yellow band, she is indeed holding a coral snake, which contains the most potent venom of any snake in North America. (This assumes, of course, that Randall isn't faking us out; there are other lesser-known subspecies of the coral snake, such as the [http://naturejournals.blogspot.com/2010/05/texas-coral-snake.html Cattinga and Pygmy coral snakes of South America], who do not follow the above patterns.)

Instead of realizing the danger, Megan equates the color bands to having the same function as those printed on electrical {{w|resistor}}s. Resistors have at least three bands to identify their resistance value in {{w|ohm}}s, followed by an optional fourth band showing the {{w|engineering tolerance|tolerance}} as within the bounds of a certain percentage of the aforementioned resistance value. A red band followed by a yellow and a black one identifies a 24 ohm resistor (the Omega symbol, “Ω”, stands for ohms). As per the mnemonic, North American coral snakes have an additional yellow band between the black band and the next red band. Yellow corresponds to a tolerance of ±5%, so the actual resistance will be between 22.8Ω and 25.2Ω. Resistor color codes were also mentioned in [[227: Color Codes]].

The title text refers to the fourth band specifying the tolerance but interprets it as the snake's tolerance for being held before biting, instead of the measure of the imprecision of the 24 ohms. In the case of yellow, this would refer to a tolerance value of 5%. How tolerance to being held is measured left ambiguous. If the value represents the probability of being bitten over a given period of time, then larger numbers would mean a less tolerant snake. If it instead represents the position on some per-determined "tolerance scale" between 0 and 1, then larger values would represent a 'more' tolerant snake.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are standing in some grass. Megan is holding a snake with red, yellow, and black stripes.]

:Megan: Red touches yellow, which I think means this is a 24Ω snake.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:1427: iOS Keyboard

2020-03-29T00:57:25Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: /* Shouldn't the quote shown in the illustration at the top be explained too? It's not a movie per se, but still. */ new section

XKCD references on the XKCD wiki? Who would've thought... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.197|141.101.104.197]] 06:58, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
:I'm so meta even this acronym.
:Just saying... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 07:58, 29 September 2014 (UTC)BK201

I believe that the ios word prediction is personalised based on your previous sentences. My Android autocomplete comes up with "Elementary, my feast of the United Kingdom", and "Toto, I've a feeling we're not going to Switzerland"... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 07:53, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
:I imagine it is, but it's still interesting to see the defaults before you've added much to the dictionary. I believe this is what Randall is up to. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:00, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

What about adding a reference to XKCD Questions[http://xkcd.com/1256/]? --[[User:Jkotek|Jkotek]]

Wasn't there XKCD comics about keyboard prediction starting from blank state? --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 09:57, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
:[http://xkcd.com/1068/] You're welcome. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 10:04, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

I thought some of the humor for the LoTR reference was the Gimli's dad was a character in The Hobbit. Obviously, Randall didn't work this in, but it could've affected his choice to feature this one in the comic [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 16:35, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Given the outcome of the Scottish referendum on secession, it seems to me that the iOS-updated version of Wallace's quote is perfectly appropriate. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.64.125|141.101.64.125]] 23:01, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Wallace didn't fight the British, he fought the English. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.19}}

Incomplete, anyone? Or is this wiki just goigo explain jokes Randall himself has made? It's probably the latter case, since nobody seems to have had a problem in four years. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.41|172.68.46.41]] 05:49, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

William Wallace's quote actually goes "They '''can''' take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.149|172.68.253.149]] 01:59, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

== Shouldn't the quote shown in the illustration at the top be explained too? It's not a movie per se, but still. ==

[[User:Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything|Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything]] ([[User talk:Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything|talk]]) 00:57, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

2148: Cubesat Launch

2019-05-12T17:16:53Z

Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything: Edited grammar

{{comic
| number = 2148
| date = May 10, 2019
| title = CubeSat Launch
| image = cubesat_launch.png
| titletext = Luckily, the damages were partly offset by the prize money we got from accidentally winning the nearby water skiing championship tournament.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|CubeSat}} (aka U-class spacecraft) is a miniature artificial-satellite with cubic dimensions of 10 cm × 10 cm × 11.35 cm (~ 4 in × 4 in × 4.5 in), and masses of about 1.33 kg (2.9 lbs) per unit. CubeSats are put into orbit from the International Space Station or launched as secondary payloads. As of January 2019, at least 900 CubeSats have successively achieved orbit, and at least 80 have been destroyed in launch failures. They typically function as Earth observation satellites, amateur radio emitters as well as testing prototype small-satellite technology.

The comic begins with [[Megan]] telling [[Cueball]] that being officially part of a CubeSat launch is very expensive, but she has an idea for a much cheaper alternative: use a fishing line on a drone to attach to a rocket just before launch, with the CubeSat attached to the other end of the fishing line so it gets pulled into space.

In reality, this plan would fail for multiple reasons.

# Security would presumably prevent the drone from reaching the rocket.
# Even if Megan were to pilot the drone past security undetected, the launch would have been scrubbed as soon as any observer noticed the drone near the rocket and told Mission Control, who would order a countdown halt and stop the rocket launch, which prevents Megan from launching her CubeSat in the first place - after which Security would locate the drone's user and take her into custody.
# The unshielded CubeSat would likely be destroyed by aerodynamic forces.
# The drone would not be able to attach itself to the rocket in a way that would remain secure.
# The fishing line would not hold - either the rocket exhaust would sever it, or the force from the CubeSat, gravity, and the acceleration of the rocket would become more than its tensile strength could withstand.
# Precise weight is an important number during launch. The extra weight of the drone, the fishing line, the air drag from the drone, and the CubeSat all would combine to put more downward force on the rocket. This unexpected extra weight would not have been calculated and could turn the rocket off-course, along with making it spend more propellant in countering the forces exerted this way. This may result in the rocket not achieving the planned orbit, and may have to orbit at a lower altitude. Having said that, the rocket still outweighs Cueball, Megan, the drone, the fishing line, and the Cubesat by many thousands of pounds.

Upon realizing her plan, Cueball immediately responds with "uh-oh", indicating his concern, but Megan assures him that it will be fine, before piloting the drone towards the rocket. She successfully connects the drone to the rocket, and the rocket lifts off.

Whatever her plan was, it goes wrong almost immediately. The unexpected force on the rocket from the side causes it to tilt and go off course. Perhaps if the rocket's control software employed {{w|adaptive control}} techniques, it could have maintained control in the presence of this unexpected force. It is implied that it's not due to the comparatively small force of the CubeSat, but because Cueball is standing on the fishing line. However in real life the force from Cueball stepping on the line would still be very small and would be unable to cause a scenario like this. Megan and Cueball get tangled in the fishing line and are carried away. While the fate of the rocket is not shown, it is likely that its unplanned {{w|Attitude_control|attitude change}} would activate the automatic termination sequence or result in manual activation of the destruction protocol.

Megan and Cueball miraculously survive and are brought to an investigative board to explain their actions. Megan attempts to defend herself using flawed logic: something was bound to go wrong sooner or later, so it's not her fault that she was the cause. This logic does not account for the fact that this particular rocket's chance to crash was greatly increased by the drone attempting to connect to it. She isn't totally to blame for the accident anyways, since the launch should have been scrubbed as soon as the drone came anywhere near the rocket, and the failure of Mission Control to do so is negligence on their part, and hence they are more responsible for the failure of the mission than Megan and Cueball as they did not follow proper protocol and allowed the launch to occur under unsafe conditions.

The title text describes that the supposedly huge damages they caused were partly covered by the earnings from a water skiing championship, which Cueball and Megan presumably won by being dragged across the water by the rocket. This might be a tangential reference to an incident in the {{w|The Adventures of Tintin|Tintin}} adventure ''{{w|The Black Island}}'', where the {{w|Thomson and Thompson|Thompson Twins}} blunder into and win an aerobatics competition when they compel a mechanic with no flying experience into taking off in pursuit of that volume's antagonists.

Additionally, this is not the first comic to discuss CubeSats; they were also mentioned in [[1866: Russell's Teapot]] and in [[1992: SafetySat]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan is holding a cube attached by a string to a quad-copter drone flying above her head. She talks to Cueball standing next to her.]
:Megan: A spot on a CubeSat launch costs a lot, but you can get a drone and a spool of fishing line for cheap.
:Cueball: Uh oh.

:[A wide shot of Megan flying the drone with the cube at her feet while Cueball stand behind her looking after the drone that flies up to the left.]
:Megan: No no, watch.
:Megan: This is gonna go great.

:[Wide shot of a rocket standing on its launch pad with the support tower. The, now very small, drone is approaching, string attached, from the right.]

:[Slim shot of the rocket as the drone attaches to the rocket, just under the tip with the payload. The string goes down and out to the right.]
:Megan (off-panel): Perfect!

:[A huge cloud is emitted from the bottom of the rocket as it lift off the ground every so slightly.]
:''Foom''

:[As the rocket is taking off it begins tilting in the direction of the string. Two off-panel voices come from Megan and Cueball's direction.]
:Off-panel voice #1: Should it be tilting already?
:Off-panel voice #2: Hey, move your leg.

:[Close up of Megan and Cueball struggling in tangle of string that surrounds Megan while she is holding the cube in one hand and the remote for the drone in the other. Cueball uses both hands to try and help her out of the tangle. The string goes out to the left towards the rocket.]
:Megan: Ugh, let go, I can get-
:Cueball: -No, lift your ''other'' arm-

:[Three slim panels follow, one above the others, of the rocket, with string, tilting increasingly to the right and down as if pulled by the string. In the final panel of the three the tip of the rocket is now further than where the string goes down to the bottom of the panel. So the string now goes back left from where it is attached to the rocket, rather than to the right as in all previous panels.]

:[Megan entangled in the string with the cube in her hand and Cueball hanging below her holding on to the string, are flying through the air, as the string goes up right, and with small lines drawn above it to indicate it is moving to the right. On the ground Science Girl holds a hand to her mouth looking up at them, while a guy looking like Cueball runs away with hands over his head.]
:Megan and Cueball (screaming): ''Aaaaaa''

:[A disheveled looking Megan and Cueball both with plaster casts on their arms stand before four people, Hairbun, another Cueball like guy, Ponytail and Hairy. They are the members of an interview panel and are sitting behind a desk like table with a large label on its front:]
:Launch accident investigation board
:Megan: Listen.
:Megan: Space exploration is never going to be completely safe.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Drones]]
[[Category:Space]]